Amonkhet Limited Set Review: Gold, Artifacts, and Lands

Welcome to the Amonkhet Limited Set Review! Before we dive into the cards, I’ll make my usual note: The rating on each card is less important than the commentary—the numerical value is more to provide a relative value than to define the card. This is especially true from 2.5-3.5, as those ratings are more contextual than the best or worst cards.

Mechanics

Embalm

Creatures with embalm can be recast from the graveyard, in token form. This makes all of them easy 2-for-1s, as long as whatever kills them doesn’t exile or incapacitate them without sending them to the graveyard. It’s a very strong ability, and expect to see high grades across the board for creatures that have it. It also makes bounce/Arrest/exile effects stronger.

Aftermath

Another form of 2-for-1 are the spells that come in two modes, the second of which you cast from the graveyard. These often synergize with each other, and are naturally quite powerful. They don’t require much special analysis, as their strength is largely what’s on the card, on a case-by-case basis.

Cycling

Cycling is the trickiest of the mechanics, as it adds a ton of power to a card in a somewhat innocuous way. Being able to cash in a card for something new makes the cost of adding cycling cards to your deck very low. Any card with cycling is baseline good, and cheap cycling makes situational cards much more appealing. I’m going to be high on cycling cards because of this, even if I don’t explain it each time. Trading in a card for a new one when the card isn’t useful reduces both mana screw and mana flood, and is a huge shaper of how this format will play out.

Exert

Keeping a creature tapped for an extra effect is pretty straightforward. Cards with exert don’t impact the shape of the format all that much, and can be evaluated on their own merits easily. This does make untap effects stronger than they otherwise would be, though.

Ahn-Crop Champion

Limited: 3.5

While not the cream of the crop, this is a 4/4 for 4, which is always a welcome addition. The ability adds a little, as it’s useful in a race or with other exert creatures, but most of the power here is in the body.

Aven Wind Guide

Limited: 4.0

This card is fantastic. It’s good value by itself and adds a powerful dimension to any deck with tokens. I like when my build-around cards are great on their own, and this is a prime example. If you take this early, you can draft with it in mind, but you don’t need to really worry about missing.

Bounty of the Luxa

Limited: 4.0

This is a luxurious bounty indeed. You draw a card or get 3 mana, alternating, and that’s a hugely powerful effect for just 4 mana. I’ll gladly take a turn off to cast this, and it very neatly gives you extra mana to cast all the extra cards you are drawing.

Decimator Beetle

Limited: 4.0

The -1/-1 counter theme gets a flagship uncommon in Decimator Beetle, which also has the upside of being a great card on its own. Don’t expect to get passed these late, as anyone who can cast them will gladly snag the Beetle. It’s worth noting that it distributes a -1/-1 counter no matter what, even if it doesn’t remove one, which Marshall got wrong in the LR set review.

Enigma Drake

Limited: 2.0 // 3.5

Outside of a dedicated spells deck, this is a marginal playable. It really only needs 1 spell to be passable, which most blue-red decks can provide. In a spell-heavy deck, this becomes awesome, and will just be a huge under-costed flyer.

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons

Limited: 3.5

Hapatra takes a little work, but she really pays you off for it. By herself, she won’t get through very easily, so her power is largely based on being able to place -1/-1 counters with other cards. Getting just one Snake makes her good, and any more than that makes her insane. I’d be glad to pick this poison early, though she loses some luster later in the Draft.

Honored Crop-Captain

Limited: 3.0

Assuming you are already red-white, this is a good 2-drop. I wouldn’t go into 2 colors early for this—it’s not a piece of crop, but it’s also nowhere near a bomb. If you are going wide, something that appears difficult here, it gets better, though that’s marginal upside for most decks.

Khenra Charioteer

Limited: 3.5

Good stats and a useful ability make this an above-rate pick, though another gold card that isn’t worth committing for. It’s tricky—in a red-green deck, this is a 3.5, but it’s not like Decimator Beetle, where I’d first pick it and feel happy committing to 2 colors. Part of that is that it’s not splashable, since it’s an early aggressive creature, and splashing it defeats the purpose.

Merciless Javelineer

Limited: 4.0

Merciless Javelineer really hits the target. It’s powerful by itself and makes combat a nightmare for the opponent, while also having additional synergy in the red-black discard deck. It even triggers cards like Ruthless Sniper, and is an excellent way to start a Draft.

Neheb, the Worthy

Limited: 4.0

Neheb is a bit more than worthy, since a 4/2 first strike is a huge beating. It gets in early without too much trouble, which fuels the hand size ability, and later in the game it’s not hard to get down to 1 card if you are trying. That’s not even looking at other Minotaurs, which makes Neheb even worthier, since you should naturally end up with a couple moo cows in your deck anyway.

Nissa, Steward of Elements

Limited: 3.5

Nissa doesn’t protect herself, which is a real drawback on planeswalkers. She does tick up quickly, though, and her 0 ability isn’t that hard to hit with. Later in the game, she plays like a Fireball, as playing her for 8 and ulting immediately deals 10 to the opponent. Nissa is a strong card if you can protect her, and threatening late-game, but falls short of being a true bomb.

Samut, Voice of Dissent

Limited: 4.5

Despite looking like a RoboRosewater card, Samut is a bomb in Limited. She ambushes well, bashes for a ton of damage, and makes your other creatures more threatening. I wouldn’t worry about activating the white ability—playing her in straight R/G is more than acceptable.

Shadowstorm Vizier

Limited: 3.0

This will play well in most blue-black decks, though if you somehow end up with 0-2 cyclers, it’s cuttable. Your opponent won’t know what you have, so leaving this back could scare off attacks, even if you are out of cyclers.

Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun

Limited: 4.0

Temmet is a bear that comes back in a much more threatening form, as he can start targeting himself with his ability. He also makes your other embalm creatures into huge threats, and he’s efficient no matter how you use him.

Wayward Servant

Limited: 3.5

The Zombie decks look pretty good to me, and Wayward Servant attacks early and wraps up the game late. If you are short on Zombies, this obviously becomes much worse, but your opponent doesn’t know that, and could use good removal on it.

Weaver of Currents

Limited: 4.0

This is like a better Sol Ring since it can attack and block. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but this card is very good. It’s incredibly good on turn 3, and even later in the game it’s useful to have extra mana in this format.

Start // Finish

Limited: 3.5

6 mana to kill any creature and leave a 1/1 behind is playable, and gets way better once you can split the mana cost up over 2 turns.

Reduce // Rubble

Limited: 1.0

I’m not thrilled with a 3-mana Mana Leak, and would rather not be reduced to spending mana to make my opponent’s lands not untap. This is two weak effects stapled together, which doesn’t really get there for me.

Destined // Lead

Limited: 3.5

I like that Destined is a nice combat trick by itself, and combines nicely with Lead. Casting both sides in the same turn is worth saving it for, though you won’t always have that luxury.

Onward // Victory

Limited: 0.5

Onward to my sideboard. This card is just not strong enough, especially given that Victory is at sorcery speed.

Spring // Mind

Limited: 2.5

In a ramp deck, this is worth a slot, as it gives you two effects you are happy with. Outside of that, it’s borderline, as 3-mana acceleration hasn’t traditionally been good, though the 6-mana draw 2 part of the card does protect you against flooding out. Overall this probably will play better than it looks—which is good, because it doesn’t look great.

Prepare to Fight

Limited: 3.5

I’m prepared to first pick this, as it’s a clean 2-for-1 that comes with a bunch of life to boot. I don’t think you’ll cast both halves on the same turn all that often, because it’s better to use Prepare as a trick and then later Fight to pick off a creature. It’s hard to find a situation where Prepare lets you survive combat and still have enough toughness left to survive a fight. This also is playable just for Prepare, which means that splashing Fight is a real possibility (whereas most of these cards are just gold cards).

Failure // Comply

Limited: 1.5

Limited isn’t fast enough for cards like this to really shine. This just delays a problem, instead of dealing with it, and most decks won’t be able to close out games before whatever you countered comes back.

Rags // Riches

Limited: 4.0

It’s going to be hard to play with and against this card, and it gets significantly better once you add more removal to the mix. Imagine the opponent with a 5/5 and a 2/2, and you bounce or kill the 2/2 end of turn. Untapping and casting Riches is a beating, and that scenario doesn’t seem unbelievable at all. Plus, the -2/-2 part of the card is powerful already, so this is just a good card all around.

Cut // Ribbons

Limited: 4.5

Cut is a first pick by itself, and getting a win condition for free is just absurd. This looks like a bomb to me, and is not a card I’m going to pass very often.

Heaven // Earth

Limited: 4.0

Heaven is going to get cast for 0 a lot, as Earth is the half of the card that makes the biggest impact (or literally is the biggest impact). This is very powerful, and extremely hard to play around.

Monuments

Bontu’s Monument

Limited: 1.0

The Monuments are largely bad, which is why I lumped them together. The cost reduction part isn’t worth a card, and the effects on all save Oketra’s Monument are minor enough that I’m not going to include them in my deck.

Edifice of Authority

Limited: 4.0

I have it on good authority that Icy Manipulator is a great card in Limited, and this may even be better. It loses a little bit in aggro decks, as it doesn’t prevent blocking until the fourth use, but it’s still a very powerful removal option.

Embalmer’s Tools

Limited: 0.0

I don’t want to spend a card to make embalming cheaper, and there isn’t a realistic Zombie mill deck around. All I get from this is that embalmers are tools.

Gate to the Afterlife

Limited: 0.0

Non-token means that this isn’t even good in the sacrifice deck, and as Marshall and I found out when we fruitlessly looked for God-Pharoah’s Gift on the set review, that card doesn’t exist yet.

Honed Khopesh

Limited: 1.0

This is too low impact for me to be happy about including it, though it does make a fine 23rd card. There are also matchups where you know what the stats that matter are, and making your 2/3s beat their 3/3s could be worth a card if that interaction comes up a lot.

Luxa River Shrine

Limited: 0.0

1 life is too little, and 2 life takes too long to get working. I don’t want to spend this much mana on a pure life gain spell.

Oracle’s Vault

Limited: 3.5

I’m in for a slow card advantage machine. The first couple activations may not net you much, though hitting lands is always sweet. Once you get enough brick counters, you stop bricking, and start playing awesome things for free.

Pyramid of the Pantheon

Limited: 1.0

Team Pantheon found some nice digs for the next Pro Tour, though hopefully they find something better than this card to play with. I don’t like losing mana for 3 turns to eventually gain mana, and it would take a lot of expensive cards and many colors before I’d consider this.

Throne of the God-Pharaoh

Limited: 0.5

These artifacts are pretty anemic. If you have a ton of tapped creatures, you are probably winning anyways, and this doesn’t help when you are behind or even at parity.

Watchers of the Dead

Limited: 1.5

If you need an easy-to-cast 2/2, this is your card. Otherwise, you are barking up the wrong tree, as the ability is just a blank.

Cycling Lands

Limited: 3.5

These are solid picks if you are both colors, and playable even if you’re just one of the two. I wouldn’t take them over premium removal, but they are better than average commons.

Cascading Cataracts

Limited: 1.0

I’m not envisioning the wacky decks that this fuels being any good, but at least it’s indestructible.

Cradle of the Accursed

Limited: 1.0

If your mana is great, this is a marginal playable. In a normal deck, it’s not worth the risk of getting color-screwed, as a random 2/2 isn’t a big payoff. I’d largely avoid this.

Evolving Wilds

Limited: 3.0

Not a high pick unless you are 3 colors, but I’d always play it in a 2-color deck.

Grasping Dunes

Limited: 2.0

This is an effect that’s worth a little risk, especially in a -1/-1 counter deck.

Painted Bluffs

Limited: 0.0

Please, do not play Shimmering Grotto, no matter how prettily it’s been painted. Paying an extra mana for your spells is just not worth it.

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About The Author

Luis is one of the most accomplished players in Magic: the Gathering history. His resume includes eight PT top 8s with a win at Berlin in 2008, fifteen GP Top 8s with five wins, and a Hall of Fame induction in 2013. He can often be found playing Vintage in between competitions and loves any format where Force of Will is legal.